Comey calls off the hounds of the FBI and the market reacts

Another election "poll" today

Market reacts after FBI ends pursuit of Hillary Clinton

November 7, 2016 | Sunday, FBI Director James Comey sent another letter to Congress, this time telling them that they had reviewed the emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop and had found nothing to change their original conclusion that Hillary Clinton had not committed chargeable crimes.

The FBI has on three separate occasions inserted itself into the 2016 presidential election.

July — Comey holds a press conference to announce that the FBI had completed its investigation of classified information on Hillary's email server and concluded that there was no basis for a criminal charge. Democrats heaved and big sigh of relief and praised Comey; Republicans charged that Comey was part of a rigged system that was protecting Clinton and berated Comey.

October 28 — Comey sent ambiguous letter to Congress notifying them that emails had been found, but the FBI didn't know what was in them, whether they were significant, and indeed didn't know anything about them. Republicans jumped for joy in hopes that "Crooked Hillary" would be undone and praised Comey for righting the wrong he had committed in July; Democrats assailed Comey for meddling in the election, so close to the election, indeed after voting had already begun.

November 6 — Comey sent another letter to Congress notifying them that they had completed a review of the new-found cache of emails and had found nothing to make them change their mind from the conclusion reached in July. Democrats again heaved a big sigh of relief; Republicans immediately pivoted back to "rigged system" and Trump exhorted his followers from the campaign stage that they had one "magnificent chance to beat the corrupt system and deliver justice."

But it is not just Democrats who are sighing with relief this morning. A look at the Dow-Jones Industrial Index (see above) shows that the market reacted with exhuberance at the open, with the Dow closing up more than 2%.

Those who have been following the vicissitudes of this election as reflected in the value of the 401Ks and IRAs know that the turmoil, the ups and downs, the October and November surprises have roiled the markets severely. Today's reaction indicates both relief that Clinton is once again free of the threat of criminal charges and, I think, optimism that she will be victorious when the votes are counted Tuesday night.

The larger problem with this hullabaloo is that it reveals that yet another government institution is now consider partisan. Interference in politics was rampant in the days of J Edgar Hoover, but since that time there has been a concerted effort to professionalize the FBI and de-politicize it. What has been revealed now is that there are blocs within the FBI that are highly partisan and strongly anti-Clinton/anti-Democrat. The FBI has been leaking like the proverbial sieve, obviously feeding directly into the Trump campaign. Case in point: Rudy Giulliani.

John Cole

Adding fuel to the fire, a Facebook user named Chris Grimm has posted a picture claimed to be Director Comey's house in Westport, Connecticut, with a Trump/Pence yard sign. To be fair, I have seen no reporting on whether that is indeed Comey's house, whether he in fact lives there (maybe he owns the house but rents it out), or whether he, himself, place the sign (versus some mischievous prankster).

House in Connecticut claimed to be FBI Director James Comey's home, originally posted on Facebook by Chris Grimm with the claim, "Absolutely undoctored photo. I took it myself. I live a mile away"RealTimePolitics.com